Christmas Comes But Once A Year
by BrightlyShining
Summary: It's Christmas Eve and all they want it to be home with their loved ones. Instead they are stuck at the side of a lonely road where Christmas Spirit doesn't seem to have a chance... right?  friendship, written for the Christmas Gift Fic Exchange


**A/N:**

I am happy to finally be able to publish my contribution to the CCOAC Chistmas Gift Exchange Challenge.

This story goes to Criminal Minds Mom. The promts I was given are Let It Snow; snuggling by a fire; snow storm and mistletoe, while the assigned pairing is Hotch/Garcia.

I'm sorry this is so late but I hadn't had much free time lately and started to write this story in a completely different way where things got really out of hand. The team was stuck in an elevator, the pairing somehow turned from Hotch/Garcia to JJ/Rossi and it ended with Reid setting them all on fire due to some weird accident with a venturi burner (don't ask).

However, I hope I used the promts in an acceptable way. There probably are a lot of grammatical errors in this story, I found quiete a lot of them and will continue to eradicate them.

I could add a short **_previously on Criminal Minds_** as this story as a kind of open beginning but I think it should be obvious though. If not: Garcia's car broke down so Hotch is giving her a ride home on Christmas Eve. But due to the glassy roads they veer off the street...

Please leave a review and tell me how you liked or disliked it.

Merry christmas (Eve) everybody!

- AJ

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><p><em>I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. <em>

Charles Dickens

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><p>"Oh. My. Goodness." She shivered, trying to not imagine how bad this could have been. Her eyes widened as she took a look out of the windows. there wasn't anything but snow, snow and snow. Only through the windscreen could they see, from out of the roadside ditch which they were apparently were stuck in, the actual road.<p>

"Garcia, are you alright?", she heard Hotch ask and only nodded. This couldn't be true. Not today. Not out _here_.

"Turn out the engines", she whispered in shock, slowly getting to think clearly, "if we're snowed in it's going to smoke us out."

Hotch did, as it was reasonable, and pulled out his cell. "No service."

„They've been warning of snowstorms ever since last week", Garcia remembered as she,burried her head in her hands, feeling for a moment nothing but the deep urge to resignate. She war tired of this. Being both a most of the time happy person and the one who was to do the research for those who only told her to research the most gruesome stuff ever was hard at some times as optimism couldn't be forced, but she had managed, coped, with her reoccuring doubts, her fear and, last but not least, disgust. She had done so by using days like this – christmas, easter, halloween; by, if necessary, forcing her friends to feel the spirit and to, for a change, smile with her. She let out a deep sight. This was too much. If even the superior forces of nature began to scornfully mess with her happiness and doomed her to spend the best night of the year in a cold, dark car with noone but her ust as dark, taciturn boss the effort she kept making in order to be positive might just not be worth it after all.

„The weather's been pretty bad this morning", Hotch said and she heared how he sat down, too.

„I can't tell, I've been fluctuating between my office and the office kitchen since yesterday."

„You... you stayed overnight?"

She shrugged and smiled slightly.

„You know I can't see much of you, right?"

„Oh, ehm... sure." She coughed and let out a small, nervous giggle. „And yes, I haven't gone home. There still was some stuff I had to get started on... personal concerns, but nothing too complicated. I seem to be able to work more cencentrated when I'm here and I didn't feel like driving through all that snow either." The small pause was filled with silence and while Hotch didn't really mind it made Garcia only more awkward. „Did I tell you I got stuck the other day? I got help via the AAA."

„Oh, well, that's good."

„Yeah, it doesn't seem to have worked quiete well. But they were nice."

„The roads were really icy this morning, I passed a couple of accidents on my way here."

When she didn't answer Hotch wasn't quiete sure whether Garcia had finally come to the conclusion that, no matter how awkward it might make her feel, spending time like this with him in silence was still easier than attempting to small-talk or if there simply wasn't anything she had to say. He had to admit that the latter was a rather stupid guess if it came from a profiler or even more from a friend.

„So when do you think will tsomebody pass by to safe us?", she asked, prooving his first theory wrong, too. „No offence, bossman, but as much as I would enjoy being stuck in here with you every other night of the year, this was so not what I've been planning for _tonight_."

„It's the night before christmas."

„They you think they'll get it fixed soon?"

„I think this might be the only night that most people don't care much about the condition of their roads. Most should be home by now and if not it's unlikely that anyone wants to go out _here_."

Garcia didn't answer and once again they sat next to each other in silence.

"Do you by any chance have a parachute with you?", she asked all of the sudden, mainly to break the icy silence between them but not without having at least a bit of hope that he might indeed have one somewhere in the trunk. Hotch looked up at her as if he hadn't been prepared for her to say anything -which would be rather stupid assumption, especially when it came from a profiler- or not to say anything _that_ weird, which would be about just as stupid.

His answer turned out short. This was the night before christmas and he was stuck in a cold SUV at the side of the road - _so_ not a situation that made him feel the urge to talk any more than usual. "No."

"Too bad", Garcia sighted and again Hotch was surprized. She sounded serious and if he was being honest with himself her question had made him a little curious. Why would she ask for a parachute? He was pretty sure she wouldn't ever want to skydive and he couldn't come up with any obvious possibilities to get put of this situation with a _parachute_.

"Why would I have a parachute with me?", he asked and smiled unwillingly.

She shrugged and grinned all of the sudden. "You were over there in Afghanistan and I always thought parachuting was pretty much of a military standart kind of thing. _Plus_ you are like the FBI's Batman - all serious, dressed in black... wearing tight black muscle things." A short giggle escaped her lips and echoed through the car and another one followed as Garcia watched Hotch trying to stay serious but eventually smiling a little brighter.

"I'm a lot more of a pencil pusher than _that_ an adventurous guy."

"Yeah", she said sarcastically, "and I am the most kickass woman who has ever been with the FBI, sure thing Hotch."

"Okay, so maybe I'm not all that bureaucratic-"

"Understatement. _Strauss_ is bureaucratic and the two of you couldn't be more different from each other."

"Why, thanks... I guess."

Dammit, this conversation was getting awkward, even for Hotch. Not talking to Garcia felt as if he was letting down a friend, especially as he was pretty sure not talking at all meant thinking about what she was missing on right this minute, too. He wondered how, keeping this in mind, having an actual conversaton could turn out to be _that_ hard then. After all he considered her a friend and you can talk to those who are close to you. One doesn't babble plain nonesense; at least none of this kind.

"You're welcome."

"So..."

"Yes?"

"What would you do if I had a parachute?" He inwardly rolled his eyes. Great way to keep a coversation going, just take up the original topic without even understanding how it came up...

"So you actually have one?"

"What? Ehm... no, I still don't." Hotch shook his head in confusion. Were his small-talk abilities really _that_ bad or was it the abnormity of their situation that seemed to hinder their conversation from going anywhere? "I wouldn't go parachuting anyway. It can be dangerous."

"Aw... you're having acrophobia?"

"No, I used to like it. But I have a son."

"Oh, of course... How is little JackJack? I bet he can't wait for Santa to come, right?" He was probably feeling bad about not spending Christmas Eve with his son... or, at best, being very, very late. Garcia swallowed, knowing too well how difficult it was for both, Jack and his father, to be separated. Dammit, she even knew Hotch had done extra hours for the last two weeks so that not a single, little leftover issue could stand between him and Jack tonight. And there he was - stuck with one of his coworker due to the one wish jack had had: lots and lots of snow.

"He's been really excited about Christmas." Gusts of wind loudly howled outside of the car. "We built a snowman family the other day and we've been planning on adding an igloo for them to live in tonight, or probably tomorrow after handing out the presents."

"So he still believes in Santa?"

"Oh, he sure does, I had to take him to the postoffice at least one time a week since November to send letters to Santa." He slowly shook his head, feeling warm from the inside out as he remembered sitting in the car next to the quiete chatty boy, being told the funniest preschool-jokes or just listening to songs of christmas cheer and the general happiness that couldn't excist anywhere but in childhood. "There were wished to add, reminders and... greetings to Haley. Many of them." Sadness filled his heart, even though Jack seemed to, while he missed his mommy a lot, cope overall well with losing her. But while Hotch wasn't even capable of fulfilling all of his fatherly duties all the time he noticed how not having a mother any longer but a sitter to look after him after preschoolhad it's influence on the boy. "But I intend to keep it that way for the next couple years."

"That's so cute", Garcia said in awe, "...and so sad."

Hotch didn't answer.

"You have a great son and you seem to be pretty good with him, too. I'm sure he's gonna be fine."

"I know... well, I hope. Jack isn't always like other children his age are. He doesn't trust people much, I guess that's how ones children turn out when they've been in witness protection, and he... I don't know. Back then, he had to give everything up and in the end it didn't do Haley or him any good. But honestly, I've been concerned he would pick up on the anger he has witnessed or become pretty quick-tempered but he's really calm, really sweet. " Hotch's voice softened and his tone disclosed a tenderness that Garcia hadn't been aware of, but for which excistence she had always hoped. "And he's beginning to befriend a couple of boys and I think he's getting happier each day." He coughed lightly, feeling as if he had given er too much information of himself. "So whom are you spending the holidays with?"

"Kevin. Last year we went to visit his family in Montana the first time and we'll go see them tomorrow."

"Are they... you know, like him?"

"You mean crazy?"

"Ehm... no, no definitely not, I mean... Kevin is... I don't really know him so I can't jud-... he is... nice?"

Garcia burt out laughing. _Crazy_ hit the nail right on the head and she was perfectly fine with it. Witnessing how her boss started stammering as he tried so hard to not say anything insulting was cracking her up though. She hadn't known he could be as clumsy. So much was revealed that this was almost as good as spending Christmas Eve with the cutest nerd on earth.

"It's fine Hotch, Kevin _is_ crazy. The both of us are. And yes, his family sorta is too. But they are all awesome... I even kissed his sister."

Hotch was the one who blushed at the sentence and awkwardly tried to think of a different topic to talk about. "How come the two of you were kissing?"

"Mistletoes all over the house. They live in the countryside and these things are all around so... yeah, about half the family brought some... and his family is _huge_ and we both thought it was fun to just go along as we stood under one." She giggled. "I have pictures, wanna see them?"

"I... would love to", he lied and smiled, almost proud of knowing what to say and having a sufficient answer on hand, "but it's pretty dark and I don't have my flashlights with me..."

"Nice try, but we're way past the you-need-flashlights-to-use-electronic-devices days."

"Wait - You have your laptop with you?"

She rolled her eyes. "What kind of question is this? I'm not surprised you're carrying your gun either."

"Could you probably access the Internet and, ehm... _skype_ for help?"

"Honey, the Internet might be forever, but we're out here in a desert of snow and nothing."

"So this is a no?"

"Yeah."

"And a _honey_?"

She blushed slightly, even though he didn't see it, and grinned widely. "Sorry, sugar; I just can't help it."

She didn't _want_ to help it either. This just was the way she was and sometimes it even occured to her that this was the only way she _could_ be. Surviving in the world Hotch and the others were living in? No way, she had seen how it had destroyed Elle and Gideon and how Reid, Emily in some other way and Hotch had been on the edge of destruction, too. Delightfulness didn't protect her from all of this either, but it held her life and mind together...

Something remotely crossed her mind as she thought of how to be happy and Garcia closer her eyes, trying to get somehow closer to it. Delightfulness, Christmas... Happyness. Then she got it.

"I think I have a great idea!"

"Does it get us out of here?", Hotch asked doubtful. If it didn't he didn't really care.

"Nope, but it's almost as good."

"Can it get us help to get outta here?"

"That's not it either", she sighted and gently pushed his arm, "watch and learn... or never mind the learning, just watch, Grinch-man."

She opened a program which Hotch neither knew nor understood nor wanted to understand and began to type fast. If it didn't mean help it wasn't relevant but he couldn't deny that -whatever it was she was doing, was for sure good at it. Line after line of codes and orders formed on the screen and reminded him of her work's value. She was fast and good and he wouldn't want to work without her... or much less miss out on being friends with her.

"Here we go."

She pressed another key and another window was opened. His eyes widened. It was beautiful; way better than probably hundreds of nerd-family pictures..

Hotch stared at the animated red, yellow and orange flames that seemed so lifelike as the slowly turned the darkbrown, 3D logs of wood black and listened to the subtle crackle which came from the speakers in fascination. Garcia came closer to him until they were leaning against each other but he didn't mind. The storm kept howling around them and even though he felt how the temperature inside the car got colder the digital fire seemed to warm him from the inside out.

"Garcia, this is amazing!"

She smiled. "That's the way us awesome people do it."

"How do you-?"

"I came to the FBI 'cause I am a damn good hacker but if Computers are your thing getting to look at the most secret secrets isn't everything you do. I even wanted to become a programmer before my parent's died and my life took a really very different direction."

"Well, you're really good at this. Jack would love this so much, too."

"Already said he's great." She paused shortly before her fingers began to quickly hammer onto the keypad. The fire disappeared and another window opened. Just as Hotch began to evaluate whether he could protest and ask her to open the fire again or not she continued to talk. "You know what's missing here? It's probably going to kill the battery much faster but I think we really need some christmasy music."

Hotch responded by letting out a loud moan. She giggled. "What? Not the music kind of person?"

"I swear, if you dare to _Wham_ this car-"

"Aww, don't you worry about this, I already figured that this might be a little corny for you so I thought of... Sinatra? _Let it snow_?"

"You do know that snow is the absolutely last thing we need right now?"

"If you're snowed in a car with your boss the last thing you need always, seriously: always, is the Yeti, okay? So let me christmas-up this place a little, I need this."

She didn't wait for his answer but started the song and turned the volume up before recalling the animated fire until both filled the cold air.

_Oh the weather outside is frightful, _

_But the fire is so delightful. _

_Since we've no place to go_

_Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow._

It _was_ a damn good song, Hotch had to admit it to himself. Not only did he like Sinatra, Jack had heard it once and learned it surprisingly quick since he was convinced that singing would please Santa more than just writing and a pleased person would give him the snow he wanted rather than one that was annoyed because he had just received six letters from one kid. After all, Santa was wearing glasses on most pictures Jack had seen of him and reading stuff became harder for old people as their eyes got worse, right?

"You don't happen to have some hot chocolate with you as well?", Hotch asked and suddenly remembered the beginning of their conversation, "Hey, what about the parachute you've asked for? What did you want to do with it?"

"Oh, nothing really", she shrugged, "it's been a little cold, that's all. I'm fine now."

Hotch didn't point out that it had only become colder. Garcia suddenly sat up straight next to him.

"Hey Hotch, are there the lights of a car back there?"

He switched on all of the car's lights within seconds and pressed the motor horn to get the driver or a grey SUV to notice them. A wide smile burst over his face that he couldn't suppress as he thought of Jack, for whom it wasn't bedtime yet and of the snow which was covering his lawn, waiting to become an igloo for the three snow-Hotchners...

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><p><em>A christmas candle is a lovely thing;<em>

_it makes no noise at all,_

_But softly gives itself away._

Eva Logue

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><p><strong>2nd AN:**

I just need to say this: This year Christmas sucks. Over here in Germany we had had like two days or so with snow and plenty, plenty of rain. It isn't even below freezing point right now and I passed a few trees which hadn't even lost all of their leaves yet. they were brown but they were _there_. I thought I hated winter last year when there was way too much snow but I seem to hate it even more without it.

So yeah... just sayin'. ^^


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